Our building strategy (NOT)

Are you wondering where we are in the building process?  Maybe even thinking something happened and there has been no more progress?  That is thankfully not the case but things are happening so fast that I don't even get a chance to take pics and document it all.  

Here is where we stand now!

I know crazy huh?  We have walls and a roof, some windows and even some fun cedar beams on the front porch.

You know what else?  The bathtubs are in, the electrician has wired the joint,  and we picked a paint trim color.   GAH!  I thought I would be more prepared for all the decision making and for crying out loud I really should have already made all of these decisions right?  Oh well, seems like I can't get things done unless there is a fire lit so let it be.  

A while back we had to talk about windows.  We don't have a nice window budget so we were a little limited.  I wanted a darker window with a little more of a contemporary look.  Although we are not fans of the way aluminum windows feel and sometimes look that is the way we had to go if we wanted to avoid white or a tan color.  In my dream window situation they would be bronze or black on the outside and white on the inside.  These things are possible but you have to pay a pretty penny for them.  

I think once we add some chunky white molding around them inside we will end up with the interior look that we like.  

Now if we are going to talk about windows I have to mention that you really need to make sure you think about the style and dimensions of each window.  We did not do this:(  Yes we had an architect draw up the plans but we didn't want to take the time or spend the money for him to take the time to draw up exact windows.  He put some in that he recommended and then we just went with those dimensions in the type and style of window that we wanted(or could afford).  That being said we have had to spend some extra dough when we realized the laundry room windows were fixed(didn't open) and the dining room windows looked really bulky and choppy because they are bronze aluminum not high end beauties.  Had we sat down and read through the window specs and chatted about these things with our builder we could have saved ourselves 1,500.  Gah! It all starts adding up.

Oh well live and learn and move on to more fun things like fixtures!

When the builder calls and says I need you to pick the plumbing fixtures "like yesterday" and you have to hall 2 of the 3 littles with you to pick them you end up making decisions just to get it done.  I literally couldn't remember what I had chosen when I got home because it was such chaos with lots of "don't touch that, get off of that potty, we don't play chase in here, and the grand finale...did you really just poop?"  All I know is I stayed under budget and got the plumber the valves that he needed from the fixtures.  Did you know about this?  Apparently there are different valves for different shower fixtures and they have to be placed before the sheetrock goes in.  Here I was thinking those would be the finishing touches and last minute decisions.  Well now I know.

We ended up with this lovely modern fixture from Mirabelle for the master bath.  I had to convince the hubs that chrome was the way to go.  I actually had to convince myself a little too but when I look back at some of my favorite bathrooms the majority had some chrome to bring in the bling.

 For the Jack and Jill bath and the guest bath we went with this curvy more traditional take in chrome.  I stuck with chrome in a traditional look here because many moons ago I scored some "nice enough"looking faucets at costco that have this feel to them.  

I bought three of them on a whim because I knew our plumbing fixture budget would be slim and they were a great deal.

I also scored these white mosaic glass and marble backsplash tiles at Costco one day.  Would you believe they ended up costing only about $5 a sq foot?!  That is a great deal for a mosaic tile.

So I bought what I thought was enough to cover our kitchen backsplash although now I'm considering using this in the master bath;)  Must decide now!

Speaking of the master bath...I stumbled upon the cabinet below at a warehouse sale and decided to remove a wall in the master bath to make room for it!

Thankfully the framers were at the house when we bought it and we were able to draw this little change  on our floor plan and shoot it to them so they could make the change.  They had already built those walls but it just took a second to knock the boards down.  Ah the beauty of having open and accessible walls.

As for some of the other goodies we have found for the kitchen...

I found this sink on ebay at a fraction of what I had seen them for.  Turns out it has a couple of scratches on it so they were having to sell it as damaged.  They seemed to be very minor from the pictures so we went for it.  You know what is crazy?  We have had it sitting by the front door for months and have yet to open it and check it out.  Here's hoping we aren't disappointed.

And then there is this...

It has to be my favorite buy so far!  We decided not to do a double wall oven and cooktop and to go with this bad boy instead.  It is a Fratelli double oven and gas range and we bought it from a lovely person off of craigslist that actually has an online store where she sells these.  This one just so happens to have some scratches on the sides where of course they will never be seen! We got it and ended up saving $$ because we don't have to buy a double wall oven and cooktop.  Not to mention we got it at a fraction of the cost of new! 

That my friends is the somewhat spastic way that we shop for our home.  It's a hunt and an adventure but we end up with things that we wouldn't normally be able to fit into the budget.  Now I can't wait to see if we can pull these things all together in the end!

Next up nail down what we are using for tile in the master bath. Wish me luck!

 

Frame it up!

Gah!   I'm so behind!  You wouldn't believe where we are in the building process right now but I must catch up and go in order or it will bug me to no end!  

Would you believe the hubs sent me this pic when I was at work 2 weeks ago and said.  "We have walls!"

So exciting!  I was dying to get out there that afternoon so we could walk around and get a feel for it.  

This was only 3 days after the pouring of the foundation so in a matter of 5 days we went from this

To this....

To shabaam!

Let's take a little tour of the progress.

Her is our little man getting to step into his room for the first time.   I guess he couldn't believe his eyes!

This is the beginnings of our front porch.  Actually that slab sticking out it the porch and there is a nook right in the middle that will house the front door.

This is looking through the front door through the entry and living to the back door.  Lining these two doors up was one of the things we wanted to happen.  Why? You might ask?  We are suckers for symmetry.  Plain and simple.

This pic shows the hubs workspace in the garage.  We couldn't afford a full third car space in the garage(which would have been used for his tools and working on projects) but instead we were able to work in this area.  We are super excited about the potential accomplishing lots of projects here!

Here hub is showing "boogers" where she can hand her backpack in what we call the "mudroomish" area inside the garage door.

He is now showing her where she and bitty baby will be sleeping.

This is the playroom (a.k.a Family Room per the husband)

Those two large openings are where there will be pocket doors.  One that goes into the kitchen and the other will house the pocket door for the pantry which of course will be entered into from the kitchen but this just shows you the bones of that area.

This pic shows the kitchen and living room.  The wires and waste line sticking up here go right into the center of the island.

Hubs in the pantry..

One of the things I'm excited about it right behind him.. The framing for the window in the pantry.  Why would a little window be so fun for me?  

From this vantage point I would be looking at the island and the kitchen cabinetry.  Behind that cabinetry is the laundry room.

This is the framing for the fireplace and the entry to our master bedroom area is to the right of it.

I was standing in front of the fireplace here and looking back into the kitchen.  

The black box on the floor is an out let in the living room floor.  Another last minute (adding to the budget) decision.

This is the view the kids will have from their bathroom.  Lucky ducks!  If we had known this we would have flipped the house around.  This is something to consider when building.  It is hard to know where your views will be if your lot is sloping or has so many trees that you can't see.

This is a view of the master closet from outside.  We couldn't fit a his and hers closet into the plan so we have a wall that separates the closet into a his and hers area within one closet.

Our little guy walking along the 3 windows in the dining nook.

He loves me...He really does.

Chillin on the back porch!

Looking out the front door.

It's going to be so fun to see this become an entry way to our home!

Fun fun playground for memory making..

So there you have it.  

It's framed!  Oh it's more than framed but let me catch up and I will share soon.  

Our little man started kinder this week and we have been busy busy with decisions on fixtures, gas lines, windows and our other real jobs so I'm buried but can't wait to share more!

Prepping the foundation and the anticipated Pour!

Well where were we?  If you've been following on the facebook page you know there has been a lot of movement lately at the site.  It's exciting to see progress after what seemed to be a really long period of nada happening.

To see the previous construction post check out this little ditty about how Little did we know the train would be derailed.

So now that we are back on track...(somebody stop me;)

The next step was covering all that gravel with thick black plastic.  I suppose this is so the gravel doesn't absorb all the moisture from the concrete when it's poured but I honestly don't know.  You see I had intentions of learning why they do each and every thing they do but I am failing and honestly we are enjoying just watching it all happen.

After the Black plastic went down the rebar went in.  It's in a grid pattern on the surface and then there are vertical bars in between the different  sections of the covered gravel with more horizontal rebar below.

There were parts bricks placed under sections of the rebar to allow the concrete surround the rebar.

I don't know what this little contraption below was for?  A box filled with gravel around the sewage pipe to a bathtub?  I'll have to remember to ask.

 I'm going to back up here and mention that there were so other electric and plumbing aspects that had to go in before the rebar.

This round plastic thing below houses what will be an electric outlet in the floor of our living room that will probably be used for lamps on side tables or a sofa table lamp.

I believe these were electric and water lines that will run to the fridge and the other ends of them run right up the middle of our island along with a sewage pipe for the sink and dishwasher.

This electric line will sit in the office wall.  Looks like they determine a certain place to start all electrical work from and run that part through the slab while all other wiring will branch off of this thought the walls.

After the rebar was done the foundation engineer was scheduled to come take a look and sign off on it. There were a couple of L shaped pieces of rebar missing on a couple of corners so the builder was informed, the engineer sent them the info. and the rebar guys were back in the next couple of days to remedy the issue.  We were then able to take pictures of the areas and send those to the engineer for approval.  Good thing because the next morning at 4 am the concrete truck was on it's way!

The hubs was shocked to see this on the horizon when he pulled into the neighborhood that morning!

 I seem to always be at work on the day that something exciting goes down so he shoots me this pic and  it honestly took me a minute.  I thought it was a crane at first!  

I'm sure the neighbors were lovin us!  They did start at 4 am and had lights in the trees and all!  When construction is booming you don't really get to be picky about what time of day this stuff happens.

By 8 am this is how it looked.  Hub was a little concerned about the texture since we are doing stained concrete floors but after a call to the builder he assured us there was another step that would smooth it all out.

24 hours later we get to stand on our house!

The kids get to climb up and down the massive concrete walls.

Here is the electric box in the living room floor.

The concrete is very smooth everywhere except around that outlet above and we did notice you can see a shadow of the rebar through the concrete.  Not sure how that is going to affect the look of the floors?  This is our bedroom floor which will be carpeted... 

but this is the master bath which won't.  I don't mind character at all but just hope it doesn't look like there use to be tile on the floor before it was stained.

So that is were we stood as of early this week!  Speaking of standing...The kids unknowingly got the better views in the house.  This is what they will see looking out their bedroom window. Once we clean up the cedar trees It will look pretty nice I think.  Truth is I grew up where there were no trees so this is good as gold for me! Lucky ducks!

Next up..

Wood..Lot's of wood!